We have an Inquisitor from Kirsanov to test us this wek.
This is Kirsanov’s fourth Inquisitor. The previous three had interesting, but slightly out-of-the-ordinary themes. It will be interesting to see what we have in this puzzle.
We had a medium-length preamble that stated: Seventeen clues each contain an extra letter, to be removed before solving. In clue order, these letters spell the name of a leading character in a film. Answers to normal clues must be entered in accordance with the title of a song, sung by this character, which must be written below the grid. One grid entry, which must be highlighted, is a cryptic indication of the title of the film. Numbers in brackets are the lengths of grid entries.
This is a fairly standard introduction to Inquisitors, which explains the non-standard nature of some clues and what we have to do with the output from such clues.
I didn’t identify all the extra letters when solving some of the clues. It wasn’t until I had enough of them, that I could deduce the name of the leading character, and then work backwards to identify the location of all the extra letters.
For the treated entries, I started with CLAD and BACH from CHILIAD and HIBACHI. I could see that an H and two Is were being removed from the answers to form the entries. DROSS was the next treated entry that I found. It had to be DRESS or DROSS. I found HIDROSIS as a word meaning sweating, so that confirmed DROSS. At that point I began to realise that the HI would always appear as consecutive letters in the answer, and the HI would always come before the I.
Finally it all came together with the seventeen extra letters spelling JEFFREY T SPAULDING, a leading character in the 1930s Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers. SPAULDING sang a song entitled Hello, I must be going which explained why HI (Hello) and I had to be omitted (must be going) from the six treated entries.
The six treated entries were derived from the clue answers as follows:
| Clue Number | Answer | Entry |
| 19a | CHILIAD | CLAD |
| 25a | HIDROSIS | DROSS |
| 30a | HIBACHI | BACH |
| 14d | HISTORIES | STORES |
| 35d | CHIANTI | CANT |
| 38d | TAHINI | TAN |
I thought the clues were hard but fair. It took me a couple of sessions to complete the puzzle. In most cases, the extra letters were well hidden. Perhaps the most obvious were the R in stoners (37 across) and the P in peach (4 down)
HELLO, I MUST BE GOING
The detailed table below shows the seventeen clues that were changed, before and after the omission of the letter.
I am unsure where the puzzle title ‘Cookies’ comes from, but I do not doubt that a solver will tell me what I am missing.
Thanks to Kirsanov for a fun challenge.
| No | Detail | Entry | Letter |
| Across | |||
| 1 |
Injure a guard contracted to protect cocaine and money (8) Inure a guard contracted to protect cocaine and money (8) ACCUSTOM (inure) A + (CUSTOdian [guard] excluding the final four letters dian [contracted] containing [to protect] C [cocaine]) + M A C (C) USTO) M |
J |
|
| 7 |
Iron Duke stops American wars (5) FEUDS (wars) FE (Chemical symbol for iron) + (D [duke] contained in [stops] US [United States; American]) FE U (D) S |
||
| 11 |
Small sole on a shoe (7) SLIPPER (shoe) SLIP (small sole [fish]) + PER (a) SLIP PER |
||
| 12 |
Fighting injury heard to be ignored by surgeon, initially (4) Fighting injury hard to be ignored by surgeon, initially (4) ARMS (fighting) hARM (injury) excluding (to be ignored) H (hard, when describing pencil lead) + S (first letter of (initially) Surgeon ARM S |
E |
|
| 13 |
Claim to have special power (5) POSSE (power) POSE (to claim) containing (to have) S (special) POS (S) E |
||
| 15 |
Goddess knocked back the whole feast (4) Goddess knocked back the whole east (4) MUSE (any of the nine goddesses of the liberal arts) (SUM [the whole] + E [east]) all reversed (knocked back) (MUS E)< |
F |
|
| 16 |
Excessive desire to bite the top off long cigar (6) MANILA (cheroot or small cigar) MANIA (excessive desire) containing (to bite) L (first letter of [top of] Long MANI (L) A |
|
|
| 18 |
Excellent plan almost blocked by German president (8) COOLIDGE (reference Calvin COOLIDGE [1872 – 1933], 30th President of the United States) COOL (informal term for ‘excellent’) + (IDEa [plan] excluding the final letter [almost] A containing [blocked by] G [German]) COOL ID (G) E |
||
| 19 |
Long story on Christ’s millennium (4) CHILIAD (a period of 1000 years, a millennium) CH (Christ) + ILIAD (a Greek epic [long story] ascribed to Homer) CH ILIAD CHILIAD excluding HI and I leads to the entry CLAD |
CLAD | |
| 20 |
Ian’s casual about his grandchild falling back in rocky ravine (6) ARROYO (rocky ravine) ORRA [Scottish {Ian} word for ‘casual’] reversed (about) + OY (Scottish [Ian] word for grandchild) reversed (falling back) ARRO< YO< |
||
| 23 |
Tropical mammal caught turning palm tree over (5) COATI (a tropical American carnivorous mammal) C (caught) + (ITA [the miriti palm tree] + O [over]) reversed (truning) C (O ATI)< |
||
| 25 |
Yes drummer surrounded by US call-girls is sweating (5) HIDROSIS (sweating) ([I {aye; yes} + DR {drummer}] contained in [surrounded by] HOS [US term for prostitutes {call-girls}]) + IS H (I DR) OS IS HIDROSIS excluding HI and I leads to the entry DROSS |
DROSS | |
| 27 |
Test fridge, for example (5) Test ridge, for example (5) ASSAY (test) ÂS (esker; ridge) + SAY (for example) AS SAY |
F |
|
| 29 |
Apparently, your old clothes are showing indifference (6) APATHY (indifference) (AP [apparently] + THY [old form of ‘your’]) containing (clothes) A (are [a metric unit of area measurement) AP (A) THY |
||
| 30 |
Bacterium I found on a Chinese barbecue (4) HIBACHI (portable barbecue for cooking food out of doors) HIB (A bacterium of the genus Haemophilus that can cause meningitis and other serious illnesses in young children) + A + CH (Chinese) + I HIB A CH I HIBACHI excluding HI and I leads to the entry BACH |
BACH | |
| 32 |
Ask about returning monkey flowers (8) BEGONIAS (flowers) BEG (ask) + ON (with reference to; about) + SAI (capuchin monkey) reversed (returning) BEG ON IAS< |
||
| 34 |
Plan to advance a US political leader (6) SACHEM (a Native American chief, a political leader) SCHEMA (plan) with the letter A moved forward in the word (to advance) to form SACHEM SACHEM |
||
| 37 |
A large number of stoners wanting constant heavy metal from Glasgow (4) A large number of stones wanting constant heavy metal from Glasgow (4) AIRN (Scottish [Glasgow] word for iron [a metal that is heavy]) cAIRN (heap of stones; large number of stones) excluding (wanting) C (a constant) AIRN |
R |
|
| 39 |
One’s made to leave Norway, say (5) One’s mad to leave Norway, say (5) UTTER (say) nUTTER (someone who is considered mad) excluding (to leave) N (international vehicle registration for Norway) UTTER |
E |
|
| 40 |
Lady hugs Oscar willingly (4) Lad hugs Oscar willingly (4) SOON (willingly) SON (boy; lad) containing (hugs) O (Oscar is the international radio communication codeword for the letter O) SO (O) N |
Y |
|
| 41 |
Starchy substance in wood sorrel added to sea bream stuffed with pesto (7) Starchy substance in wood sorrel added to sea bream stuffed with peso (7) TAPIOCA (a starchy substance made by heating cassava) (TAI [Japanese sea bream] containing [stuffed with] P [peso, an old currency]) + OCA (American wood sorrel) TA (P) I OCA |
T |
|
| 42 |
Local ducks after sun appear to be going west (5) SMEES (dialect word for various types of ducks) S (sun) + SEEM (appear) reversed [going West) S MEES< |
||
| 43 |
Mark of Scotland Yard retaining endlessly keen perseverance (8) TENACITY (perseverance) (TENT [Scottish word for heed {take note, mark}] containing [retaining] ACId [biting; keen] excluding the final letter [endlessly] D) + Y (yard) TEN (ACI) T Y) |
||
| Down | |||
| 1 |
Lavender jelly (5) ASPIC (the broad-leaved lavender) ASPIC (a clear savoury meat- or fish-jelly) double definition ASPIC |
||
| 2 |
Stupid person from Slough taken in by hoax (4) Stupid person from lough taken in by hoax (4) CLOD (stupid person) L (lough) contained in (taken in by) COD (a hoax) C (L) OD |
S |
|
| 3 |
Guided missile chamber breaks up nuclear particle (7) UPSILON (a short-lived heavy subatomic particle) SILO (guided missile chamber) contained in (breaks) (UP + N [nuclear]) UP (SILO) N |
||
| 4 |
Thailand peach tree (3) Thailand each tree (3) TEA (a tree) T (international vehicle registration for Thailand) + EA (each) T EA |
P |
|
| 5 |
Colour of some people’s seaweed in English parts (6) ORANGE ( a clour) ANG (Latin for ‘in English ‘) contained in (parts) ORE (dialect [some people’s] word for seaweed) OR (ANG) E |
||
| 6 |
Old priests in Georgia ascending aisle after Mass (4) Old priests in Georgia ascending isle after Mass (4) MAGI (priests from ancient Persia [old priests]) M (mass) + GA (Georgia, US State) reversed (ascending; down entry) + I (island; isle) M AG< I |
A |
|
| 7 |
Fine, fabulous birds pursuing 51 skylarks (7) Fine, fabulous birds pursing 51 skylarks (7) FROLICS (skylarks) F (fine) + (ROCS [legendary or fabulous birds] containing [pursing] LI [Roman numerals for 51]) F RO (LI) CS |
U |
|
| 8 |
Customary uniform roughly snatched from occasional worker (5) USUAL (customary) U (Uniform is the international radio communication code word for the letter U) + caSUAL (occasional worker) excluding (snatched from) CA (circa; about; roughly) U SUAL |
||
| 9 |
Dispose of some French dressing (8) DESPATCH (dispose of) DES (French word for ‘of’) + PATCH (dressing) DES PATCH |
||
| 10 |
Welsh girl to go cycling fast (8) SPEEDILY (fast) (DILYS [Welsh girl’s name] + PEE [urinate; to go]) with all the letters cycled four places left and round to the end to form SPEEDILY SPEEDILY |
||
| 14 |
Shakespeare’s records of his efforts to capture love (6) HISTORIES (Shakespeare’s ten core HISTORIES are records of the lives of several English Kings) HIS + (TRIES [efforts] containing [to capture] O [character representing zero [love score at tennis]) HIS T (O) RIES HISTORIES excluding HI and I leads to the entry STORES |
STORES | |
| 17 |
Partly take in a new dress (5) Party take in a new dress (5) ADORN (dress) (DO [party] + R [recipe [Latin for take]) contained in (in) (A + N [new]) A (DO R) N |
L |
|
| 20 |
Asian natives heading for Iran boarding wheeled carriage (non-smoker) (8) ARABIANS (Asian natives) (I [first letter of {heading for} Iran] contained in [boarding] ARABA [a Central Asian wheeled carriage]) + NS (non-smoker) ARAB (I) A NS |
||
| 21 |
Picked up yellow iris initially in ancient Salisbury garden (8) ROSARIUM (a rose garden) OR (yellow tincture) reversed (picked up; down entry) + (I [first letter of [initially] Iris] contained in [in] SARUM [ancient name for the city of Salisbury]) RO< SAR (I) UM |
||
| 22 |
Me generation’s habit (5) USAGE (custom; habit) US (informal term for ‘me’) + AGE (generation) US AGE |
||
| 24 |
Skilled manual worker has time for an old-fashioned learned man (6) ARTIST (obsolete [old-fashioned] term for a learned man) ARTISan (skilled manual worker) with T [time] replacing [for] AN to form ARTIST ARTIST |
||
| 25 |
Mondays dragged for spirited people (7) Mondays ragged for spirited people (7) DYNAMOS (spirited people) Anagram of (rfagged) MONDAYS DYNAMOS* |
D |
|
| 26 |
Furious rector leaves when interrupted by a religious zealot (7) FANATIC (religious zealot) FrANTIC (furious) excluding (leaves) R (rector) containing (interrupted by) A FAN (A) TIC |
||
| 28 |
Poet’s vow – to stay on powerful drug (6) BEHOTE (Spenserian [poet’s] word for vow) BE (remain or continue without change; stay on) + HOT (powerful) + E (escstasy; drug) BE HOT E |
||
| 31 |
Evil islander’s leader welcomed by French parish priest (5) Evil slander’s leader welcomed by French parish priest (5) CURSE (any great evil) S (first letter of [‘s leader] Slander) contained in (welcomed by) CURÉ (French priest) CUR (S) E |
I |
|
| 33 |
Spring mist (5) Sprig mist (5) SPRAY (sprig [ornament like a SPRAY]) SPRAY (a fine mist) double definiton SPRAY |
N |
|
| 35 |
Wine container briefly sustains Aegean islander (4) CHIANTI (a red or white wine of Tuscany) CHIAN (native of the Aegean island of Chios) + TIn (container) excluding the final letter (briefly) N – the word sustain [hold up] indicates that the letters TI hold up the letters CHIAN in this down answer CHIAN TI CHIANTI excluding HI and I leads to the entry CANT |
CANT | |
| 36 |
Gin taken from small, insignificant party (4) In taken from small, insignificant party (4) SECT (a party) inSECT (small insignificant party) excluding (taken from) IN SECT |
G |
|
| 38 |
Raised in Italy, Aussie’s to work on his own oily paste (3) TAHINI (an oily paste made of crushed sesame seeds.) (IN + I [international vehicle registration for Italy] + HAT [Australian term for ‘to work alone’]) all reversed (raised; down entry) (TAH I NI)< TAHINI excluding HI and I leads to the entry TAN |
TAN |
Thanks for the blog, Duncan. Animal crackers are a type of American biscuit or ‘cooky.’
This took quite a long time to complete, and that was mostly because of the ingenuity of so many of the clues. I ended up with exactly six clues unsolved, and these (naturally and fortunately) were the six exceptions. From the song title I worked out HISTORIES (STORES) first, and the others followed one by one – great fun, and an enjoyable endgame to follow an enjoyable and rewarding solving experience.
Thanks to Kirsanov, and to Duncan for the blog.
Definitely a tough challenge, but very satisfying once the light dawned. Many thanks to Kirsanov and duncanshiell.
I got HIBACHI quite early in the solving, but had no idea why it should apparently go in as BACH. Eventually the extra letters in down clues set me thinking “Hooray for Captain Spaulding, the African explorer” as portrayed by Groucho, but I couldn’t remember which Marx Bros film and had to look it up to find the other song that explains all.
Still amazed there are as many as six words which contain both HI and I in that order and also give real words when they’re removed!
I had a similar experience to Alan B in that this took me a long (if a little less enjoyable) time to solve and by the end I also had (mostly) the six treated answers left unfilled.
There our experiences differed though: I failed on the endgame as, despite having the character and song, I was entirely unable to solve any of the 6 related clues. Admittedly I hadn’t twigged that HI as well as I would need to be removed, so that didn’t help, but regardless I felt some of them were a little too hard for clues whose answers needed altering before entry (as much as it helped the surface, did HAT in 38d need to be clued quite so obscurely, for example?). Also, in 25a, in what way/context does I = Yes, other than (I’m presuming from the blog here) sounding like ‘aye’?
This all meant there was thus scant reward after a long slog, so I can’t say the puzzle as a whole brought me a huge amount of enjoyment unfortunately.
Thanks nevertheless to Kirsanov for providing the challenge (hopefully I’ll do better with their next one) and to Duncan for the blog.
This had a challenging but satisfying level of difficulty and layers for me. The clues were fair and the mystery steadily unfolded.
I was held up by identifying the wrong extra letter in ‘heard’ in 12ac, thinking it was ‘r’ leaving ‘head’ rather than ‘e’ leaving ‘hard’. Impossible to find any name starting JRF! Luckily my other half has encyclopaedic memory of old films so Spaulding saved me.
And CHIANTI was my ticket to the HI-I exclusions. A fun last part of the solve.
Many thanks to Kirsanov and Duncan
Yogdaws, I in Chambers means ‘aye’.
Great puzzle, in my list for POTY.
Thanks to Duncan and Kirsanov.
I sympathise with Yogdaws above, because I too found a lot of pretty obscure words in this puzzle and got stuck trying to remove an I but not a hi. The T in Jeffrey T Spaulding didn’t help either, when trying to unearth potential film characters from Google. But eventually I twigged what was required and enjoyed digging up HIBACHI and CHILIAD. Unlikely though it may seem (and did seem to me), Chambers simply lists I as a possible synonym for Aye, presumably on the basis of sound-alike. I never did parse the HAT in 38D, having assumed that Italian would be IT, nor the small sole in 11A, wasting time trying to define a lip as a sole in some way. Thanks for elucidating the title, Kirsanov, and for the puzzle. Thanks too to Duncan for the blog. One point; you’ve shaded MANILA, but not actually explained that it’s the cryptic indicator for the film, via the anagram of ANIMAL.
I thought this was marvellous, a POTY contender I reckon. Tough clues here and there but everything fell into place eventually. A very nice penny drop when the song title became apparent!
My thanks to Kirsanov and Duncan.
My apologies to Fisher. Until I read your post I hadn’t realised the ambiguity in ‘head’ and ‘hard’. If I had I would have written a different clue.
Several endgames fails for me recently. I twigged fairly early what the film was but this time my deficient google skills meant I didn’t find the right song and I was reduced to wondering how Hooray for Captain Spaulding the African Explorer could be worked into the puzzle. Ah well.